Your response to Joy Manning in Grand Rapids [regarding inspection lighting] (“Finishing Answers: Ask Joe Powder,” September 2006, p. 80) might have included information about the color rendering index (CRI) of the lights being used. CRI is the criteria used to help distinguish shades of a color. The higher the CRI value (100 being the highest), the easier it is to distinguish shades of a color.
Another solution might be to use T8 versus T12 fluorescent bulbs. T8s use less electricity, and T12s are soon going to be obsolete. You also mentioned lighting in terms of warm, neutral or daylight. Color temperatures can be specified as numeric values of 3000, 3500, 4000, etc., which is a little more specific and easier to control.
A lot of bulb manufacturers list most of the information above on the bulb packaging.
